John Patrick says, "It's not like the CFDA events are held in some cafeteria like a PTA meeting. It's so pleasant, with beautiful people everywhere. This takes it to another level." [DFR]

Eva Longoria Parker and Victoria Beckham are still pretending to be BFFs because they are both endorsing a mobile phone. "She's the crazy, bold, edgy one and takes fashion risks I don't usually take. I like a classic dress, a classic line, classic colors. I mean, I'm pretty simple," says Longoria Parker. "We've known each other for a long time. We laughed — we really, really laughed...all the way to the bank, when making that ad for, um, what is it again? Oh yes, a mobile phone," said Beckham. (That last part, not really.) [People]

Oprah's 700+ private-label products, currently sold in her Chicago store, will now be available in a second, smaller store. It is rumored that Oprah may move more heavily into retail as her television show ends. [WWD]

The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority has banned the Louis Vuitton ads that tout the company's goods as "handcrafted" by showing softly-lit pictures of models sewing bag handles and wallets with linen thread and needles in old-fashioned leatherworking shops. These goods are in fact made on sewing machines, in factories. The ASA says the ads misled the public. [Independent]

The Guardian sets the scene at the renovated Louis Vuitton store in London — referred to as a "maison" and not a store by the company: "The glass front of the Bond Street store is lined from floor to ceiling with a monogrammed golden chainmail that filters a sunny light on to the shopfloor. Facing you as you enter is a custom-made travel caviar set, in crocodile. (There is, of course, nothing as vulgar as a price tag.) Beyond, there is a wall of vintage trunks and another of current season luggage. The "bag bar", where you can sit on a leather barstool and watch a moving display of handbags behind the counter, was inspired by the shooting-duck gallery of the funfair." There's also a kinetic sculpture titled Credit Card Destroying Machine, in case destroying yours by paying retail isn't enough for you. [Guardian]

Yesterday, we learned Marc Jacobs had a rotator cuff injury that has been keeping him from the gym. Today, he admits to hair transplants, which have prevented him from maintaining his color. Lorenzo needs to make his old man a cuppa and put on some Lawrence Welk, because it sounds like someone deserves a rest. [Telegraph]

And Louis Vuitton chairman Yves Carcelle has nothing to say about misleading ads, but this on selling things: "Productivity is a word that I hate. I want to improve the experience of the customer entering the store — that is what is important to me. I'm not interested in the financial figures. I prefer to look at customers' happiness." Whatever you say, dude. [WWD]

The Times' sends a Critical Shopper to the Crocs store: "Crocs look best on the store's smallest, least judgmental customers: children. A boy in a scuffed pair held the hand of his smartly dressed father while reaching out to touch the shoes hanging from a wall. A girl wore a fuchsia pair that matched her backpack, customized with Dora the Explorer Jibbitz. She walked into a wall. It was adorable." Jibbitz, in case you didn't know, are the shoe-charms you stick in your Croc-holes. [NYTimes]

Steve Madden is going to be on an MTV reality show called Hired. He will (supposedly) hire a new designer for his elite knockoff squad design team. [WWD]

If you've got a thing for seahorses, ostrich boots, wine containing pickled snakes, or weasel-fur coats, now's your chance: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is auctioning off various animal products it seized at the border. [WSJ]

British Vogue is holding a competition to find the U.K.'s Next Top Street Style Blogger. Send them your photos if that might be you. [Vogue UK]

American Eagle shares fell heavily on news of declining quarterly results. Although last year the chain made $22 million in the first quarter, this year it managed only $10.9 million. [TS]

Burberry swung back to profitability in fiscal '09. The luxury brand made $117.2 million last year, compared with a loss in 2008. Pretax results beat analysts' expectations. [WSJ]

Maurice Marciano, the chair of Guess Inc., waived his salary last year because the company didn't do so well, and he's filthy rich anyway. [WWD]

The popular French style blogger behind Le Blog De Betty got ripped off by Zara. The company used one of her photos as a source image for a t-shirt design. [LeBlogDeBetty]

And Urban Outfitters has apparently been shopping for ideas at the Brooklyn Flea. (Not that this is news; there even used to be an excellent blog, now gone to seed, called Urban Counterfeiters that dedicated itself to enumerating various instances of the retail giant's unoriginality/infringement.) [Brooklyn Paper]